Deftones | Weezer | High Vis | HEALTH | Qendresa
Crystal Palace Park, London
29th June 2025
Deftones smash through their biggest UK headline to date with a massive, career-spanning set that sends shockwaves across the capital.
Crystal Palace Park is sizzling. It’s 2pm on the hottest day of the year and the festival queue is already snaking from the Italian Terraces to the train station. These fans are keen.
Opening the afternoon is R&B singer Qendresa. The artist’s electronic-tinged soul might seem slightly out of place on today’s punk/alt-metal lineup but it’s a great soundtrack to ease us in gently. The calm before the storm, perhaps…
HEALTH follow and stomp out a stunning set of industrial glitch and post-apocalyptic electronica. The juxtaposition of Jake Duzsik’s ethereal vocal gliding over blasts of metallic beats and dark textures hits with astonishing force. Bassist John Famiglietti thrashes his hair like a man possessed, unleashing a ferocious low-end groove that drives the relentless assault.
As the temperatures rises, High Vis serve up 45 sweaty minutes of unapologetic post-punk that punches through the heat with intense hooks and honest grit. Talk For Hours crashes straight into Altitude, as they flip seamlessly between hardcore and ’80s-style melodic indie. Frontman Graham Sayle races around the stage, weaving sharp socio-political commentary into the songs – this is music with heart and bite. Keep your eyes on these guys – they’re about to explode.
As the sun starts to set Weezer roll through a set of breezy alt-rock favourites. We’re treated to all the classics – Island In The Sun and Holiday, then dig back into the Blue Album with Say It Ain’t So and Buddy Holly to round things off. It’s pure nostalgia-fuel, and the crowd laps it up. Good times.
Anticipation hits fever pitch, and at 8.15pm Deftones burst onto stage in a blaze of energy. Opening with Be Quiet and Drive (Far Away), the Sacarmento five-piece ignite a tidal wave of emotion across the vast field. The anthemic My Own Summer (Shove It) follows; its brutal, driving riffs tear through the South London air while frontman Chino Moreno screams the chorus like his life’s depends on it.
“We were saving ourselves for you!”, Moreno shares, alluding to their cancelled Glastonbury set the day before. Today he’s back on peak form – jumping, screaming, and hurling himself against the barrier.
The whole setlist is Deftones gold, with hit after hit (Diamond Eyes, Tempest, Swerve City, Digital Bath). Sextape chills the crowd, and suddenly thousands of voices lift Moreno into ecstatic chorus.
Lead guitarist Stephen Carpenter may be absent but tour stand-in Lance Jackman shreds with precision and there’s absolutely no drop in energy. Razor-edged riffs explode into dreamy euphoria, Frank Delgado’s synth lines soar, while Abe Cunningham’s drums punish in terrifying waves. It’s unsettling, it’s beautiful, it’s pure Deftones – I swear even the iconic Crystal Palace tower is shaking.
Genesis from 2021’s Ohms closes the main set; the track that seems to encapsulate everything the band does best: beauty colliding with brutality. The night finally climaxes with a thunderous three-song encore (Minerva, Bored, and 7 Words), and as they take their final bow, most of the 25,000-strong crowd stands stunned, mouths agape – drained, ecstatic…blown away.
This evening’s show isn’t just a trip down memory lane, it’s proof Deftones are still a major force, and their biggest UK headline show to date is exactly that: MASSIVE.
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More from Deftones can be found on their website, Facebook and Instagram.
All photos & words © Paul Grace. For more of Paul’s writing and photos go to his archive. Paul is on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and his websites are www.paulgrace-eventphotos.co.uk & www.pgrace.co.uk
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